Masa Flour and Dough
Masa flour (dry corn flour which has usually been nixtamalized) and masa (corn dough which has usually been nixtamalized) are raw materials which may be used for the preparation of tortillas, corn chips, tortilla chips, taco shells, nachos, snack foods and similar products.
Nixtamalization is the cooking of cereal grain, such as whole corn kernels, in a medium which usually contains an alkaline agent, such as water containing lime (CaO). Thereafter there is steeping (soaking) of the cereal grain for a period of time, for example, for about three to about fourteen hours, subsequent draining of any remaining cooking liquor, washing of the cereal grains, and grinding of the cereal grains to make with drying a cereal grain flour, which may be added with water to make a cereal grain dough from which tortillas and related products may be prepared.
The production of masa dough with whole corn kernels produces large amount of waste water because of the large amounts of water needed to soften and hydrate whole kernels of corn. Further, using whole kernels of corn for masa limits flexibility for any process where food products are customized for tortillas, tacos, tortilla chips, taco chips and other snack foods which require masa and masa like dough. Using individual component parts of the corn kernel using the process of the invention described herein not only permits customization of masa dough to a particular product using a continuous process without extensive shut down times, but also minimizes or eliminates the amounts of water during the production of the masa.
An object of this invention is to provide a new flexible process for the production of masa flour and dough.
Another object of this invention is to provide a continuous process for the production of masa flour and dough which minimizes or completely eliminates the production of waste water.
These and other objects, advantages, features and characteristics of the present invention will become more apparent upon consideration of the following description and claims.